Change at Campbell’s: More salt, deeper into Hispanic market

The world’s largest soup maker met with Wall Street analysts to talk strategy and is awaiting new CEO Denise Morrison who has a new direction for the company. Among the multitude of changes: Salt is back and Campbell’s will be going after the Hispanic and younger market.

Morrison — who will take the helm as fiscal 2012 begins on Aug. 1, when Douglas Conant steps down after more than a decade — laid out her vision for the food company.

New markets: Morrison said she wants to build U.S. sales to Hispanic consumers and the generation born after 1979.

“These consumers have no intrinsic barrier to soup as a food; they love soup,” Morrison said as she acknowledged some company missteps in recent years. “But many of them don’t connect with our soup products.”

High-end soups: It plans to launch new high-end soups and broaden its range of food choices. It plans to build a $30 million, 34,000-square-foot “innovation center” for its Pepperidge Farm brand in Norwalk, Conn., where it will create new bakery and snack products.

Salt is back: Campbell also plans to bring back some higher-sodium soups after working several years to reduce sodium, sometimes at the expense of flavor. And it plans to continue broadening its V8 juice line.

Partnering in Asia, Latin America: In another shift, Campbell, which is known for its red and white soup cans, plans to buy and partner with existing companies overseas, particularly in Asia and Latin America.

Morrison, 57, an executive with Campbell for eight years, will be the first woman to lead the company. Since she became chief operating officer and heir apparent to the CEO spot in September 2010, she has been examining the company’s operations, and she’s already made changes.

Russia’s out, Australia’s in: Two weeks ago, she announced a restructuring that includes eliminating 770 jobs from the company’s worldwide workforce of 18,400, many through layoffs. She’s also shuttering Campbell’s operations in Russia; beefing up investment in Australia and closing a plant in Marshall, Mich.

She said the company would continue its fledgling effort to sell soup in China, which it launched along with the Russian effort four years ago.

The decisions to add salt and to drop Russia from the menu both got high praise from analyst Jonathan Feeney.

“That is awesome,” said Feeney, senior food and beverage analyst at Janney Capital Markets in Center City. “That is what is needed. In a nutshell, low sodium was overdone.

“We’re entering a period of time when consumers need comfort food,” he said, “and they need it at the best price possible.”

Feeney said Morrison’s announcement on salt reflected what customers buy today: “A ton of frozen pizza and a ton of frozen meals with less-nutritional content are flying off the shelves. I credit Denise for getting the memo.”